If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: Tax break

The realtor is trying to sell us 11 acres and up. So I looked up the law myself and beekeeping has no minimum size. I pay enough taxes between personal income and business to buy cheese and cell phones for the unemployed.

Re: Tax break

The Texas Apiary Inspector is going to be at our next local meeting for Metro Beekeepers, I'm hoping to get some questions answered there. I need a lot more land for an exemption to be worth much though. Taxes on the lot where I have the bees come to about $70 a year.

Stuck in Texas. Learning Permaculture in drought, guess I will teach permaculture in drought. The bees are still alive.

Re: Tax break

I have a commercial beekeepeer with 100+ hives on my property in CA and it does count for the Williamson Act. However, the Act allows counties to come up with their own criteria for what they'll accept, and most seem to be cracking down substantially in an effort to boost revenues.

Re: Tax break

Around here it doesn't actually boost revenue (in theory). The counties come up with a tax bill and split it over the base. If there is a larger base, the amount decreases per person but the total revenue shouldn't go up.

Re: Tax break

One of the reasons an Ag Exemption is so important in TX is this: TX has no Personal Income Tax. But we do have some very high Property Tax. Anything over 10 acres without an Ag Exemption will most likely be taxed as Residential or Commercial rates. Ouch!

The 2 acres of "Homestead" that covers the house, garage, and shop are taxed differently than the other 20 with the Ag exemption. I was faced with having to pay the regular rate on ALL 22 acres without the Ag exemption. It had been previously used for a Hay lease, which I ended when I bought the property. First, I didn't have the equipment to make hay myself. Two, the person who had the hay lease was an enthusiastic sprayer of Round up and fertilizers, and I didn't want him spraying anything else.

I pay taxes on my property, on the honey I sell, and on the candles I make and sell. I pay tax on the equipment I use for the bees - like boxes and extractor, etc. I provide the required inventory every year of what I have on hand. I update my progress with plantings.

I treat it like a business because it IS a business. I run it as such. Now, is it a business that allows me to be totally self supporting? Not yet, alas. Not on the heels of some of the worse droughts in TX history. But I am working towards that goal, if it's attainable. I answer honestly any and all questions from the county and when they stop by, I drop everything, make a fresh pot of coffee, pull out the Kolaches (Czech sweet rolls) and give them a tour, showing them anything they want to see. I speak when invited to the Rotary Club, Lion's Club, 4-H, and classrooms. I answer swarm calls and the occasional cut out.

Based on my actions, my willingness to share, my forth-rightness, I am treated with courtesy and respect by county officials. They know I am not playing games, nor am I making money hand over fist. They do what they can to help me, and give out my name when people ask for local honey, need a swarm caught, etc.

Sometimes when you put out good it DOES come back to you. Honesty is the best policy.

Re: Tax break

Agriculture Exemptions will vary from state to state; in Texas you CAN get a property tax exemption for beekeeping. You must meet several criteria to get it, and there may be some discrepancies between the state requirements and your local county; see your local county assessor to get clarification.

For Texas residents, Google "Texas Apiary Inspector" for the instructions to apply for the exemption.

Re: Property taxes

Originally Posted by Tom G. Laury

Coming from someone who is actually in business, and who pays my FAIR SHARE of taxes to support public services that we all benefit from, I resent your attempts to avoid paying your fair share by invoking an exemption intended for someone who is dependent on bees for a living.

2 hives will pollinate an acre. I agree with people getting away with things is wrong. But, if they law allows it then take advantage of the law. I am sure the tax assessor is not going to give you the benefit of the doubt any other time. As for paying your fare share you live in CA so you pay more then your fare share. Not trying to be mean but, you are getting ripped off in CA so use any exemption you can in CA. Poster please do a bit more then keep 2 hive. Add some more or let someone add some to your property. It would be a shame for them to change the law an punish the people that really need it. Add a few more grow each year etc.

Re: Property taxes

I own several hundred acres of land in West Texas. If I had to pay full blown property taxes on my ranch, I could not afford to own it. Ag exempt taxes save me about 24 grand a year. I keep a herd of 38 to 40 head of black angus cattle that I use for my ag exemption. Someone with 30 or 40 hives of bees could probably make as much profit as I do on my cows. Year in and year out, a couple of hundred bucks per mother cow is about the norm. From a common sense point of view, I think bees should qualify land for ag exemption.

Re: Property taxes

Originally Posted by Tom G. Laury

Coming from someone who is actually in business, and who pays my FAIR SHARE of taxes to support public services that we all benefit from, I resent your attempts to avoid paying your fair share by invoking an exemption intended for someone who is dependent on bees for a living.

"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as
possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the
treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes.
Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister
in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone
does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any
public duty to pay more than the law demands."

Re: Property taxes

Here here I agree. It is not my job to fund the government. It is my job to take care of my family and Less taxes make it easier. Everyone that can take advantage of the AG rules I encourage to take advantage of them. With the extra money buy more bee's.

Re: Property taxes

In Georgia you are entitled to preferential tax assessment to maintain land for bona fide ag. purposes. The primary use of land which is good faith commercial production from or on the land of ag products, including apiaian products. You can get conservation use breaks for not developing in any way your property also, leave it as scrub or woods. if 2 hives on 1 acre of your land provides ANY amount of income, you can qualify on that 1 acres IF the property is used only for ag production purposes. If you breach the covenant during the 10 year time frame, large penalties. Take any tax break you can qualify for. We are overtaxed due to ridiculous spending on pet projects, it is not my fault that i take the break, it is the politicians faults for overspending that make my needing to take the break necessary to financially survive.

Re: Property taxes

(2) "Agricultural use" includes but is not limited to the following activities... ...raising or keeping livestock; raising or keeping exotic animals for the production of human food...

...The term also includes the use of land to raise or keep bees for pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible products having a commercial value, provided that the land used is not less than 5 or more than 20 acres."

Your Application for 1-d-1 Open-Space Agricultural Appraisal includes the following statement:

"Agricultural use includes, but is not limited to, the following activities: (1) cultivating the soil; (2) producing crops for human food, animal feed, or planting
seed or for the production of fibers; (3) floriculture, viticulture and horticulture; (4) raising or keeping livestock; (5) raising or keeping exotic animals or fowl
for the production of human food or fiber, leather, pelts or other tangible products having a commercial value; (6) planting cover crops or leaving land idle for
the purpose of participating in a governmental program provided the land is not used for residential purposes or a purpose inconsistent with agricultural use
or leaving the land idle in conjunction with normal crop or livestock rotation procedures; (7) wildlife management; and (8) beekeeping."

Re: Property taxes

The original case law governing ag exemption in Texas for bees is here:

"Pizzitola v. Galveston County Central Appraisal District, 808 S.W. 2d 244 (Tex. App.-Houston[1st Dist.] 1991, no writ history). In this case the court starts by stating, "This case presents the question of whether a bee is like a cow." The court held that bees are not like cows. And why does this matter? Because the Plaintiff was contending that they were entitled to an "open-space valuation" on their property taxes for the 63.17 acres of their property because the entire acreage was used by the beekeeping operation (and their bees). They wanted the same tax rate ranchers get for land used to graze cattle. They called as an expert witness an entomologist with Texas A&M, who agreed that bees need land for forage. The court agreed with the Appraisal District, who had determined that the three acres around the hives and honey house qualified, but not the rest. The court held that, "the tending of the bees--the preparation, maintenance of the hives and equipment, and the honey extraction--took place on the three acres, not on the Property [as a whole]." Id. at 250."

Re: Property taxes

Anyone live in CT who has looked into this? I did some research and couldn't come up with anything one way or the other. Some really vague laws regarding exemptions for farms but not what constitutes a farm.

Re: Property tax agricultural exemption for bees

We don't have local folks to chat up...having said that I would be very interested in having a look at your submission with details on how much of what supports "x" number of bees etc. I believe the bees will be fine even without our efforts as we are sandwiched between 4 golf courses and are but a stones throw from planted commercial vegetable, blueberry and cranberry farms. We have 2 local farmers markets for selling product plus I have a business that is interested in purchasing all the bottled honey we can produce. I am also planning on making flavour infusions of the honey plus combining some with herbs as healing salves. I am new to this forum and don't know if it supports private messages.

See the top left column of page 10 for a definition of "farming" which does include "bees". Once you have the document open, "Control-F" should open a search function allowing you to search for references to bees.

And for more documents on this issue, try typing or pasting the following into Google: